


A Dragon With No Fire Still Can Kill

by Gremlin_Bastard



Series: Agni's Chosen [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassin AU, Azulon is a Questionable Grandparent, But she's trying, Child Soldiers, Gen, He is not Happy With This Revelation, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, My First Fanfic, No beta reader we die like mne, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ursa is Not as Good of a Parent as You'd Think, Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Brother, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko Was a Strange Child, Zuko is Agni's Chosen, Zuko is an Assassin, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:40:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27043624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gremlin_Bastard/pseuds/Gremlin_Bastard
Summary: Agni's Chosen should be dead hundreds of times over. But he isn't. He shouldn't have lived to see his first sunrise. But he did.At every role of the dice the boy, Zuko, should have failed and faltered, should have fallen to despair and stood still, lost all hope and stopped fighting. But he didn't. Not when his father almost killed him as an infant. Not as he was taught to throw aside his dreams and life for his family. Not when his mother disappeared from the palace in the middle of the night. Not even as his father seared of half of his face and sent him off to chase a myth.Zuko refuses to die, it's the reason Agni chose him after all.
Series: Agni's Chosen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973785
Comments: 18
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first fanfic, yay! Please give me constructive criticism (I'm kind of new to the whole writing thing in general). Also if I forget any triggers please tell me, they will be in the tags as well as more specific ones for individual chapters.
> 
> Shoutout to LizaGreen who's fanfics about Zuko being an assassin put that idea in my head, check them out the fanfics are awesome.
> 
> Disclaimer!  
> I am not Asian, nor do I know a great deal of Asian culture, I'll be trying to do my best to do my research but if there is anything I write that is incorrect please tell me (preferably politely) and I'll do my best to correct it.
> 
> One of my relatives was born super premature (their skin was completely translucent that's how early they were) and Ozai telling Zuko he was lucky to be born just hits different for me.

Agni’s chosen was born in the middle of the cool season, at night, under a new moon, he was born far to early, his skin still so translucent you could see every blood vessel, the baby had already lost at every role of the die, every bit or fate turned against him, he should of died, he was lucky to even still be breathing long enough for Ozai to finally come see his wife and son.

“No your Highness, there was no change in the candles when he was born, he won’t be a firebender.” one of the Fire Sages said, tailing Ozai into the room.

“So he has no spark...” Ozai growled, as he took the sleeping baby from Ursa’s arms.

“What?” Ursa asked, exhausted from her ordeal, wanting to hold her son in her arms for a little longer.

“I can’t have an heir who isn’t a firebender, he has no spark, we’ll need to do something about that.” Ozai said, setting the hand not supporting the baby ablaze, glaring at the tiny bundle of blankets with so much hatred it made Ursa sick to her stomach as she realized what he meant.

“N-no, you can’t do that, he’s your son…” Ursa cried, she hadn’t meant to say anything but she couldn’t stand by while her husband killed her first child, trying to take the tiny infant from his arms. Ozai turned his glare to her and she sank back as far as she could get from him on the bed.

“Sir?” The Fire Sage who entered with Ozai said, the one who had wrapped her tiny son in a blanket as well. “You don’t need to do anything rash, the child won’t survive till daytime.”

“You’re certain of this?” Ozai asked, with a growl, quirking a skeptical eyebrow at the Sage and scowling.

“Yes your Highness, unless Agni wills otherwise the boy won’t last long, he was born far too early.” The edge in his voice signaling he knew the tiny child in the Fire Prince’s arms and his status as a Sage were the only things that kept Ozai from burning him for daring to speak without prompting.

“Fine, if the boy will die anyway I won’t waste my energy on such a useless wretch.” Ozai muttered and placed her son in the Sage’s arms, who returned the baby to Ursa.

Zuko didn’t die that night.

Or the next.

Or the next.

Agni willed otherwise.

Ozai allowed Ursa to name her son Zuko when it became clear the tiny little thing wouldn’t be going anywhere. Probably more out of fear of what his father would think if the death couldn’t be played off as an accident than any actual love for the boy he had helped create.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ursa is certain it started with her and she can’t help but feel a little bad for that, maybe if she hadn’t felt the need to discuss Zuko’s talents to make up for all the things she was sure would be seen as failures, maybe if she hadn’t been so desperate for Azulon to find some use for Zuko to spare him from his father she wouldn’t have put ideas in his head, he wouldn’t even know of some of Zuko’s more interesting talents.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mama! Mama!”, Zuko’s voice broke Ursa out of her thoughts. She had been sitting by one of the ponds in the palace gardens watching the turtle ducks remembering the pond in front of her own house when she was a child, she hadn’t heard the little boy’s hurried approach, though Ursa is unsure if that is due to his quiet tread or her own distracted mind, she turned to look in the direction of her tiny son’s voice.

Her young boy ran up, stopping quickly in front of her and giving a small bow, bouncing slightly in place from excitement as he stood up, he turned his head inquisitively as he looked up at her weak smile and stilled. “Are you okay Mama?” Zuko asked his small, pale, doll like face contorting into a frown.

“Yes honey,” Ursa said softly, forcing her face into a more natural looking smile while she waited for Zuko’s excitement to return as he told her about whatever new thing he had learned in his classes, or if he’s managed to start bending yet.

He stood staring at her, eyebrows crinkled together instead, before breaking into another wide smile and holding something out to her, a purple flower, with a yellow center, shaped like a cone, multiple layers of petals give it its shape and are still slightly wet from being in water, it has a soft sweet scent. “It’s for you!” he says laughing.

Ursa’s smile is genuine now. “Oh, what a pretty flower, thank you Zuko.” She says and gently takes the flower from her son’s hand and smells it. “Where did you get this?” she asks.

“From the garden. The one near the servant’s wing. I was talking with Lu Ten there and he said flowers are good gifts to give the people you love, I’d give one to Zula or Father but Zula would just destroy it and Dad’s busy right now…” Zuko trails off, face going solem for a second, more contemplative than any four year old’s should, before brightening again, as he turns to look directly at her again.

Ursa laughs to herself a little at his exuberance, “Do you know what type of flower this is?” she asks Zuko, already knowing the answer, he shakes his head and looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell him. “It’s called a Krachiao Lotus, it’s used in medicine sometimes.” Ursa explained, Zuko’s eyes sparkle with interest.

“Can all flowers be used to make medicine?” he asks, looking at her with curiosity. “Some of them, but not all.” Ursa responds, wondering as a cold pit grows in her stomach if this was how she had looked when her mother first introduced the concept of using flowers in their garden to take care of others to her, probably not she had grown up with that idea for years before her mother actually told her their uses.

Zuko and Ursa sit there in the garden talking for almost an hour about different plants and their uses. Zuko catches on fast and Ursa is proud of him for it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ursa isn’t sure if what happened could have been prevented.

Perhaps it was Zuko's ability to quickly memorize any information he was told.

Perhaps it was Azulon noticing the young child’s ability to seemingly appear and disappear at will.

Perhaps it was his agility.

Or the way he always seemed to know a little more than he should.

But probably Azulon’s plans had always included finding a use for Zuko, something the seemingly useless fourth in line, a boy who would never get to sit on the throne, could do for the royal family. Something he could contribute. How Azulon could use him to form even more tools to strengthen his already strangling grip on the world. Azulon probably had planned for Zuko to become an assassin from the start.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: implied abuse (Zuko expects to be hit or yelled at for messing up)
> 
> Please tell me if there's any triggers I missed but this is the beginning of the story and Zuko's pretty young so there's not many yet.
> 
> This chapter was way harder to write for some reason and I don't really like it that much but I think this as good as I'm going to get it for now.

Zuko walked himself through drills in his bedroom, practicing making his dao move together smoothly, speeding up as he went until the blades whirled around him as he shifted through his katas without ever colliding. He was supposed to be in bed sleeping, but during his firebending training that morning his father had come to watch and the face he made when Zuko, nervous because of the extra pair of eyes looking in on his training, only managed to produce a small puff of smoke in his first kata. His father had stood up suddenly and Zuko had flinched back slightly before he could stop himself. If his father had seen the flinch he didn’t say, he didn’t say anything at all, just left the training yard glaring at the shaken six year old as he left.

Zuko had expected to be yelled at, had expected some sort of punishment, a slap on the wrist or harsh words. He would have deserved it. Somehow that silence put him even more on edge then he would have been if his father yelled at him. He was still waiting for a punishment, certain it would come eventually, his nerves prevented him from sleeping, he froze every time someone walked past his room expecting it to be Ozai.

Zuko’s hand slipped and one of his dao clattered to the ground making him jump. He held perfectly still waiting for someone to come rushing into the room to check on him, when no one came Zuko picked back up the sword and put his weapons away before climbing into bed. He laid there waiting for sleep to come but after a few minutes still unable to calm down he stood back up again and got back to work practicing with his swords.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lu Ten joined his two younger cousins for breakfast. Azula excitedly told Lu Ten about how her firebending training was going. 

“You know soon I’ll be even better than you Lu Ten!” the four year old proclaimed, a smug smile on her face. He had to stifle his laughter at his baby cousin's confidence.

“Don’t be rude Zula, Lu Ten is a master firebender, you still have a long way to go before you’re better than him.” Zuko huffed, glaring at his sister. Lu Ten wasn’t sure if the tiny boy was actually saying it in his older cousin's defence or if he was jealous of Azula’s talent and was just trying to be contrarian, but as he was about to say anything to diffuse the situation Azula interjected.

“You’re just saying that because you’re jealous, I started bending last year and you can still barely manage to make sparks.” Azula said laughing. Lu Ten felt a headache coming on.

“You’re not that great, I could beat you in a fight!” Zuko said, slamming his hand down on the table as his voice raised.

“Alright you two, no need to fight, you’re both good firebenders.” Lu ten said trying to calm them down.

“If you were any good at fighting then maybe Father would actually love you!” Azula said her tone of voice far too jovial. Zuko was standing in an instant, hands slammed down on the table, glaring angrily at his sister before he whirled around and left the dining hall.

Lu Ten didn’t have anytime to scold Azula before she was skipping out of the room after her brother.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko was distracted during his classes in the morning. He didn’t care about which stupid generals lead which stupid campaigns against The Earth Kingdom he was still mad about what Azula had said earlier. He was a great fighter, it wasn’t his fault she never let him use his swords when they practiced together, if she did he was certain he would win every single time. He was a good fighter and his father loved him, even if he was a little strict sometimes, that was because he saw potential in him, just like Firelord Azulon. His grandfather hired strict tutors because he wanted Zuko to reach his potential and trusted him to use the skills he learned for the good of his family, and he was certain his father was the same way. Why else would his father get so mad when he messed up?

Father hates you, there’s nothing you can do to change that, you can’t even begin to compare to Azula, a small voice in his head that sounded a little too much like his sister said. He told that voice to shut up.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko’s afternoons were taken up by three different tutors. The first of these was Ane, a short woman with a nasty scar on her face, she taught Zuko about different plants and the poisons you could make with them as well as human anatomy. Zuko had never known how many plants could kill you or how truly flimsy the human body was. The second was a man named Lee who’s chiper nature made him one of Zuko’s favorite tutors, he taught the tiny child more advanced history and was also willing to read through plays with Zuko, having Zuko act as the characters and correcting his expressions and tone when he messed up. The third was Master Piando, who was teaching Zuko all sorts of combat, from hand to hand, to knife throwing, to the dao.

By the time Zuko reached his lesson with Piando he was exhausted. He hadn’t slept much the night before and the day had dragged on, he felt like lying down on the ground and taking a nap right then and there. Ane had been teaching him how to feel for a heartbeat to determine if someone was really dead or not. The idea of being around a dead person scared Zuko but he wasn’t stupid he knew that he would have to get used to it if he wanted to make the Firelord proud. Lee had been going over the history of the Yuyan, a troop of assassins who specilized in archery. If either had noticed the prince was tired they said nothing, but Master Piando took one look at Zuko and sighed.

“We’ll focus on form today, no sparring.” the man said.

“What? Why not? I need to get better at close quarters combat, you said that yourself sir.” Zuko responded frustrated. He had been looking forward to sparring with Master Piando almost all day.

“Yes, you do, but it won’t do you any good if you’re too tired to actually learn anything and get hurt.” Piando said, glare slightly accusatory.

In the end Zuko was glad he didn’t have to spar but frustrated, he was tired and his motions were sloppy, if he had fought with the Master he would have failed spectacularly and had the bruises to show for it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko forced himself to lay still and tried to get to sleep early that night, his exhaustion from the day outweighed by the idle wandering of his mind that always made sleeping impossible. He was still mad at himself for not getting enough sleep the night before and was determined to spar with Master Piando the following day. If he didn’t work hard his grandfather would be disappointed in him. He didn’t want that. No matter what he had to do he wanted to make everyone in his family proud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6 year old Zuko sleep deprived, giant bags under his eyes, two steps away from falling asleep where he stands, still a little upset from his fight with his sister earlier: Yep, totally ready to fight someone with real swords, this will be fine, what could go wrong.
> 
> Master Piando: NO
> 
> Me: yeah being raised to be an assassin would be stressful but Zuko's six he's probably fine as of now
> 
> Me: remembers not being able to sleep as a little kid because I was stressed because of my expectations and having to 'act like an adult' when dealing with my antagonistic little brother
> 
> Me: nvm
> 
> Finding the balance between Azula and Zuko being raised in a family where the cain instinct is 110% encouraged and trying to work together to survive because Ozai is a bitch is harder than I expected.
> 
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think, I'm super new to writing fanfic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: referenced abuse (vague mention to some of the punishments Ozai uses)
> 
> This chapter was pretty fun, writing fight scenes with bending is hard.

Azula shot a blast of fire at Zuko’s head, he just barely managed to dodge, rushing forward to close the gap between the two of them and sliding his right foot forward across the stone floor sending sparks at Azula’s legs forcing her to go on the defensive. He then planted his right foot sturdily on the ground and pivoted to the right as he swung his left leg high, aiming an arch of fire for Azula’s chest. She dispelled the fire and sent one back to her brother who tried to use the same flick of the wrist she had a moment before but faltered and was forced to duck to avoid being hit by her flames. 

Zuko attempted to close the distance again but Azula sent a volley of fire towards his feet forcing him to stop to avoid being set on fire as she took a step back. They stood there staring at each other, waiting for the other to make the next attack. Zuko, impulsive as always, attacked first and the two began trading blasts of fire back and forth before Azula sent another shot of fire at his shins and a second one at his face and charged forward to aim another shot at his left side, Zuko ended up on the floor in a sprawl when he tried again to dispel the fire heading towards his legs and duck under the ones headed towards his face and also dodge to the right at the same time. 

“I win again, Zuzu!” Azula said in a slightly mocking sing-song tone, “That’s a win every time ever for me and absolutely none for you!” Azula added, trying to get a response out of her brother.

“I won once!” Zuko contested.

“I thought you said that was a tie?” Azula mocked, widening her eyes and feigning confusion.

… 

The only time she had almost lost a practice match to her brother had been a fluke and she wouldn’t let that happen again. Zuko had managed to get close enough to hook one of Azula’s legs and tried to pull it out from under her, she had instinctively grabbed his left arm to stop herself from falling over. She had been getting ready to send a sweep of fire towards him and had burnt his arm. Zuko had managed to stifle his scream but his eyes had filled with tears. Ursa had come upon the two then and gotten angry, scolding Azula for burning her brother, Ursa hadn’t believed her when Azula tried to explain what happened and Zuko, useless idiot, had been too busy trying not to cry to back up her story.

Afterward Zuko had insisted they had tied and Azula had let him have that to make up for the fresh burn.  
… 

“If you hadn’t burnt my arm I’d have won.” Zuko responded voice getting steadily louder as he got back to his feet.

“Whatever, whatever. I don’t want to waste my time fighting with someone like you…” Azula retorted, “And try to keep quiet, you don’t want Father to hear you, he’d throw a fit if he knew your little baby sister was still a better bender than you, if you don’t try harder you’ll be a disappointment to him forever.” Azula added, dismissing her brother as she turned to walk away.

Zuko had fallen quiet behind her and Azula chanced a glance back to see if he was okay. Her brother was already gone. Azula smirked, those last two jabs had gotten to him, most people assumed her brother’s habit of disappearing or storming out was because someone had hurt his delicate little feelings but if Zuko had really been upset he wouldn’t have gone quietly.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Ursa reached the turtle duck pond Zuko was there, staring off absentmindedly.

“Is there anything wrong?” Ursa asked, slightly concerned.

Zuko jumped slightly and turned to look at her with a blank expression, blinked, then smiled slightly. “Nothing, I was just thinking, I’m totally fine.” Zuko muttered. Ursa cringed slightly to herself at the purple smudges under her son’s eyes marking another sleepless night.

Ursa smiled sadly.

“Did Azula say something again?” Ursa asked, she hated that she immediately jumped to that conclusion but Azula was always antagonistic towards her brother and to suggest Ozai was at fault for her son’s current mood would end badly for her. There were ears and eyes everywhere in the palace, eager to report to him in hopes of garnering favor with the temperamental man.

“What? No!” Zuko started, eyes wide, looking a little confused. “I just wanted to say hello… I haven't seen you since yesterday morning.” Zuko muttered, eyes darkening just a little.

Oh, the boy was lonely, Ursa felt her heart twist in her chest, no seven year old’s schedule should be so busy he didn’t see his own mother for days on end except for meal times, when she couldn’t even show either of him any affection under the cold observation of his father, the man she had been forced to marry.

“Well would you like to spend some time here and help me feed the turtle ducks?” The Fire Princess asked.

Zuko frowned and shook his head. “Can’t, I have to get to my next tutor.” Zuko stood up and bowed politely and excused himself.

Ursa cursed The Firelord in her head for taking her son’s childhood away and then acting like she should be glad because he had allowed the tiny boy to live.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko was sitting, enjoying the sunlight by the turtle duck pond. The heat from the sunlight felt like a soft hug. Zuko could swear he heard a soft whisper nearby. Glancing around he couldn’t see anyone, but curious as he was, Zuko focused on the voice but it never became clearer. The little prince didn’t want to move and scare off the whisperers so he stayed in place and tried even harder to hear what was being said.

A voice startled him cutting through his focus, and Zuko flinched and whirled around to face the direction of the voice, it was his mother. It took him an instant to process the question she had asked him.

“Nothing, I was just thinking, I’m totally fine.” It wasn’t really a lie Zuko was fine, just curious, but he didn’t want to let whoever had been talking know they were heard. He hoped they’d come back later and he’d get to listen in. Zuko made a point to know what the palace servants were talking about, it helped avoid unnecessary surprises from his father and grandfather. Besides Lee had stressed the importance of always knowing what was going on around him during a mission and Zuko liked to practice by eavesdropping on gossiping servants in the palace.

She didn’t seem to believe him but Zuko already knew he wasn’t good at convincing people.

As he walked away after dismissing himself Zuko wondered why his mother looked so sad, he’d gotten a chance to speak with her and he’d done well with his firebending practice and Azula would never tell Father she’d beaten Zuko in a practice match today unless Father asked, and Father never asked so he’d get to see her at dinner instead of being made to go to sleep without having dinner first.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Azula walked to her brother's door after dinner and knocked.

“It’s Azula. May I come in?” Azula projected her voice through the door, more demanding entrance then actually asking permission.

“Come in.” Zuko responded so Azula opened the door and closed it behind herself, turning to look at her brother. He was bandaging his hand.

“If Father sees you wearing bandages he’s going to give you some injuries you actually need bandages for.” Azula commented, half joking.

“I’ll take off the bandages in the morning…” Zuko responded, “Check out this!” he said, pulling the bandage back a little to show off a nasty tear on his hand.

“You think that’s bad? Look at this! My fingertips are all burnt from lightning bending…” Azula whined dramatically, and held out her hands.

“Nope, not as bad, at least you can still hold things!” her idiot brother complained.

“I burnt my hands! You’ve learned enough about being burnt to know it hurts more than a measly tear.” Azula remarked. And held her smile when Zuko grimaced at the comment, reminding herself only weaklings apologized for what they said.

“But Zula, I thought you were too good at bending to accidentally burn yourself.” Zuko said, stealing one of her mocking tones and facial expressions but not able to hide the little bit of concern in his eyes.

“Lightning bending is different.” Azula declared. The five year old wasn’t actually sure if this was true because her bending instructor was a coward who would claim anything to avoid earning her wrath but she certainly wasn’t going to mention those doubts to her brother who couldn’t lightning bend at all, she ignored the fact that him being able to would be ridiculous. “But don’t tell Father I burnt my hands at all.” Azula added.

Zuko nodded, “Of course not.”, his face had that stony expression that Azula hated, he didn’t need to think she needed protection from their Father Zuzu was the one who was always in trouble with him..

“Wipe that stupid look of your face, you’ll never be able to lightning bend and that’s one of the reasons my father’s so disappointed in you.” Azula snapped before turning around and leaving the room.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zuko sat staring at the door his sister had just marched out of. He should have phrased that more carefully. The five year old could get offended over the littlest things, but he couldn’t figure out why Azula had said that. He knew Father was disappointed in him and he knew she knew he was well aware so it wasn’t a warning thinly veiled as a threat or insult. He supposed she had thought he had been contradicting her statement about lightning bending but how would he, she was the prodigy and even if she had just recently managed her first sparks she knew more about it than he did.

Zuko shrugged to himself and curled up to try to get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azula: *Insults Zuko to his face*
> 
> Azula: Jk please don't hate me.
> 
> Writing fight scenes is so fun, I know Azula and Zuko basically having a firebender version of a fist fight probably seems like a weird way to do sibling bonding but me and my brother used to beat each other up with sticks for fun so...
> 
> Also the comparing injury's scene has been in my head for a while, as someone who sword fights and has a sibling who does gymnastics when ever one of us complains about an injury the other one immediately tries to one up the other.
> 
> Lightening bending, as I imagine it, burns your hands a little when you use it because like firebending it comes from within but unlike firebending which will only burn your palms if you don't have good control or overwork yourself lightening bending will always burn your hand and is also extremely taxing physically and mentally.


End file.
